Introduction

The Environmental Stewardship of Indigenous Lands (ESIL) certificate is an exciting educational opportunity at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), where Indigenous comprises the terms Native American, American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Hawaiian Native. The ESIL certificate provides a unique training opportunity for students to combine a passion for protecting natural resources with a desire to communicate across diverse cultures and schools of thought. This unique program provides training, internships, and job placement for students interested in environmental issues involving tribal and non-tribal entities.

This certificate is available to full-time and part-time undergraduate students; post-baccalaureate students; and transfer students. Students from CU Denver and other institutions are invited to participate. While the certificate is open to students from all educational backgrounds, ESIL targets students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Additionally, the ESIL certificate incorporates professional training through extracurricular activities and internships. The extracurricular activities provide students with culturally relevant exposure to topics such as tribal independence, environmental law, transcultural competency, and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Both the STEM curriculum and culturally relevant knowledge are applied during internships in which students practice facilitation as tribal liaisons with partner organizations.

The ESIL program is offered at the undergraduate level.

ESIL Academic Advisors

• Dr. David Mays (David.Mays@ucdenver.edu) in the Department of Civil Engineering
• Dr. Rafael Moreno-Sanchez (Rafael.Moreno@ucdenver.edu) in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences
• Dr. Timberley Roane (Timberley.Roane@ucdenver.edu) in the Department of Integrative Biology

Program Delivery

• This program is available with on-campus, online, and off-campus components. More information on delivery opportunities can be obtained from one of the ESIL certificate advisors.

Declaring This Certificate

Students interested in completing this certificate should complete this form: CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Intent to Declare Form, which requests that the certificate be added to your student record. Once added, you will be able to run a certificate degree audit. The certificate degree audit should be used in collaboration with the Certificate Advisor to ensure successful completion of the requirements.

Students should then work with Timberley Roane (Timberley.Roane@ucdenver.edu) – the certificate advisor, to ensure completion of all certificate requirements.

Completing This Certificate

Students must also complete the CLAS Undergraduate Certificate Completion Verification Form, before graduation, in order to confirm completion of their certificate. The certificate advisor will confirm that your certificate has been successfully completed, and will work with campus partners to apply the certificate to your transcript.

Students must fill out the Certificate Completion Form before the deadlines below, to ensure the certificate is applied to your transcript correctly. If you are a non-degree seeking student, please fill out this form in the term in which you intend to complete your certificate.

Spring semester – April 1
Summer semester – July 1
Fall semester – November 1

Upon enrollment in the ESIL certificate program, students participate in the ESIL program activities, complete at least one ESIL internship, and take the ESIL coursework. In addition to the certificate requirements, students are also required to complete any STEM courses identified by the ESIL program director.

Eligibility:

Students in any discipline are eligible for admission in the certificate. Students from a non-STEM background may have to complete STEM coursework to meet the STEM expectations of the certificate.

These program requirements are subject to periodic revision by the ESIL certificate advisors. Exceptions and substitutions for individual cases will be made by ESIL advisors only. Students in the ESIL program are required to meet with their assigned advisor before the start of each semester to confirm best plans of study. 

General Requirements

Students must satisfy all requirements as outlined below.

• Click here for information about Academic Policies.

Certificate Requirements

1. Students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours of approved courses.
2. Students must complete a minimum of six upper division level (3000-level and above) credits from approved courses.
3. Students must earn a minimum grade of C- (1.7) in all courses that apply to the certificate and must achieve a minimum cumulative certificate GPA of 2.0. Courses taken using P+/P/F or S/U grading cannot apply to certificate requirements.
4. Students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours of approved coursework with CU Denver faculty.

Certificate Restrictions, Allowances and Recommendations

1. It is expected that students have a STEM background for completion of the certificate.  For most STEM students, the STEM degree serves as the background needed.  For non-STEM students, additional certificate related STEM coursework may be required. For the certificate recognition to appear on the student's transcript, students must meet all curricular and co-curricular requirements and meet with an ESIL advisor no later than the start of the semester of graduation.
2. Students must be enrolled in one course per year to maintain active status in the certificate program.
3. Participation is required in ESIL workshops and seminars.
4. ESIL internships are designed to expose students to the professional practice of facilitation and offer important connections and networking opportunities directly with agencies who hire tribal liaisons. Assignment and completion of the internship must be pre-approved by an ESIL advisor. The ESIL certificate requires a written report and presentation to demonstrate proficiency for each internship. The ESIL certificate requires at least one internship through the ESIL program. All students must work with their ESIL advisor for the placement in the required ESIL internship.  Some majors may allow students to earn and apply internship credit toward their degree.
5. The ESIL certificate requires the courses listed below. Each course applied to the ESIL certificate may carry prerequisites that must be met prior to course enrollment. 

Required courses

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Complete one of the following courses with guidance from an ESIL advisor:		3
BIOL 2010	Organisms to Ecosystems (Gen Bio)
BIOL 3330	Plant Diversity
BIOL 3411	Principles of Ecology
BIOL 3762	Biostatistics
BIOL 4154	Conservation Biology
BIOL 4415	Applied Microbial Ecology
BIOL 4425	Biogeography
BIOL 4460	Environmental Toxicology
BIOL 4780	Aquatic Ecology
or ENVS 4780	Aquatic Ecology
CHEM 4700	Environmental Chemistry
CVEN 1025	Civil Engineering Graphics and Computer Aided Design
CVEN 3401	Introduction to Environmental Engineering
CVEN 3611	Engineering Statistics
CVEN 5381	Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
ENVS 1044	Introduction to Environmental Sciences
ENVS 1342	Environment, Society and Sustainability
ENVS 3082	Energy and the Environment
ENVS 3232	Weather and Climate
ENVS 4740	Soil Science and Geography
GEOG 4060	Remote Sensing I: Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing
GEOG 4080	Introduction to GIS
GEOG 4731	Mountain Biogeography
GEOL 4010	Landscape Biogeochemistry
MATH 2830	Introductory Statistics
MATH 4830	Applied Statistics
All students must complete an ESIL approved internship or equivalent coursework. 1		3
BIOL 3939	Internship
ESIL 3840	Independent Study
ESIL 3939	Internship
GEOG 3939	Internship
Complete two of the following elective courses: 1		6
COMM 3271	Communication and Diversity 2
ETST 3036	American Indian Cultural Images 2
ETST 3110	Indigenous Studies
ESIL 4050	Special Topics
MGMT 4100	Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion in Business 2
PSCI/ETST 4144	Indigenous Political Systems
PSCI/ETST 4146	Indigenous Politics
Total Hours		12

¹

Students must work in advance with their ESIL advisor to have their internship and other coursework approved. Other courses can be considered with the approval of an ESIL advisor.

²

These courses fulfill the core curriculum requirement for cultural diversity.

To learn more about the Student Learning Outcomes for this program, please visit our website.